Means for aiding the sorting of documents



Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES? JAMES H. FULLER, 0F COLUMBUS, OHIO.

MEANS FOR AIDING THE SOR'IING OF DOCUMENTS.

Application filed November 23, 1925. Serial No. 71,026.

The object of the inventioni's a means or apparatus for facilitating theclassification or sorting of documents, such, for example, as. salesmensreports, letters, shop records and so forth that come in uniform" widthor length. To illustrate, in: the tobacco and cigar business asconducted by one or more. large concerns in the United States, thecountry is divided geographically into departments and divisions anddistricts or assignments of divisions,the departments having supervisorsand the divisions managers under whose direction are salesmen, thelatter being assigned to particular districts in which they make dailyvisits to retail dealers to take orders for the goods needed. Thesesalesmen are required to make daily reports of their sales upon a formsheet of uniform dimensions printed in connection with spaces to befilled in by them giving in detail the information required. Thesereports are sent by mail into the department manager who arranges themor through a clerk causes them to be ar ranged'eachweel'r for convenientfuture reference in alphabetical order as respects the names of thesalesmen and also if desired in chronological order,

In the illustration instanced the sorting is not done each day nor evenat the end of the week'but during each week in respect of the nextpreceding week so as toinclude in the sorting those reports that arrivelate by reason of the time consumed in mail transportation, it beingevident that a Saturdays report will not ordinarily arrive until Mondayor later; lVhere a department is large or populous and the salesmennumerous the sorting of the reports, unless some mechanical aid beprovided requires much handling and rehandling and shifting about of thedocuments to get them into the proper order so that they can be quicklylocated and referred to at some later time. ltly invention will beuseful inmany businesses other than that herein specifically instanced.

The invention is embodied in the exanr ple herein shown and described,the features of novelty being finally claimed.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l is a top planview of an apparatusaccording to the invention.

Fig- 2 is a front View of the left hand side of the same, both sidesbeing alike.

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation looking at the left hand end of the devicewith the near leg removed,

F 1g. l is a detail view of a ticket or slip oi paper designed to bearthename of'a salesman or division manager.

Fig; 5 shows a section of the ribbon employed with a ticket like thatshown in Fig.4 inserted.

in the views A designates an elongated rectangular table supported bylegs B upon which table the documents to be sorted'are laid as"hereinafter explained. The table is provided with a pair of longitudinalfinger grooves A. The rear of the tableis prov ded with a permanent railC over which ribbons D and Pare shifted. At each end of the table isjournaled a spool E to which are. connected the ends of the ribbon D.The ribbon- D has stitched to it by transverse stitches in regularlyoccurring un ts of measurement as hereinafter descrlbedat oppositemargins narrow strips D to provide opposed pocket-like openings toreceive the tapered endsof flexible paper tickets (see Fig. 4)bearing'the names of the division manager and the salesmenunder hisdirection and also, as shown, a series oi numbers. These tickets aremade remova-ble so as to permit of substitution and transposition wherenew managers or sales men take the places of thoseold, resigned,deceased or discharged. The names of the salesmen are arranged on'theribbonin alphabetical sequence following the distinctively marked ticketbearing the name of the division manager. The spools E are turned bysuitable crank shafts J fixed on which are gears K engaging pinions Lfixed on the spools to cause rapid winding of the ribbon In onedirection or the other so as to present in the exposed portion of theribbon the particular set of names desired or the series of numbers. Theribbon can be held from slipping out of its adjusted position by means.01 screws M clamping on the shaft the parts of the crank shaft bearing.

The rail in front of said movable ribbon is provided with a stationarymarking or right with numerals in arithmetical series, for example, from1 to 35.

Connected with additional spools O is another ribbon P bearingtransverse dividing lines forming spaces equalling those of thepermanent scale 'lhis ribbon is also provided with an arithmeticalseries of numbersone for each division-connnencing at the left hand endas shown. This ribbon is adjustable to the right or left by providingthe shafts of the spools with knurled heads that can be turned With thelingers of the user. Stops U can be'provided to prevent the ribbon ifrom runnmg off the rail,

it Will therefore be observed that the ribbon 1) can be moved to havethe middles of its divisions and the names thereon coincide With thelines of the permanent scale. it Will also be observed that the movableribbon i can be moved to have its lines of division coincide with any ofthe lines of division of the permanent scale and the coincidencecommence with any digit or number of the permanent scale. l'he ribbon fcan, of course, be similarly adjusted with respect to the numberedportion of the ribbon i) if desired. The point at which the coincidenceof the ribbon l With the permanent scale is determined, in practice, bythe width or length of the documents to be sorted. For example, if thewidth of the document to be sorted is eight inches the ribbon P willbe'adjusted to have its division line 1 coincide with the division line9 of the permanent scale and the name on ribbon D will be adjusted tohave the alphabetically first name coincide with the i'irst division ofthe permanent scale.

Supported in guides Q, secured on the lower side of the table is a slideit having stops like that at S to abut against a cross bar T to limitthe extent of Withdrawal of the slide. Said slide when drawn out affordsa convenient place to initially receive the pile of documents to besorted.

In practice the reports of the various salesmen are laid on the tableeach with its upper left hand corner coinciding with the line oppositewhich is his name on the ribbon D. All the reports for the week are laidin the same manner so that there Will result a layer of reports someprojecting more and some less to the right than the others and, ofcourse, according to the position determined by the alphabeticalposition of the name of the salesman but all the reports of a particularsalesman will lie in the same relative position vertically to'the tableand the scale, or to particularize, all the reports of the salesmanWhose family name begins with the lowest letter of the alphabet in thegroup will project equally beyond the reports of the salesman having thenext lowest letter. By taking at the grooves A with the fingers of theright hand the margins of those reports'that project to the right beyondall the other reports andv pressing down and holding the other nearestadjacent reports with a linger of the left hand at the same number ofthe stationary scale as the number with which the documents to bewithdrawn coincide at their right hand edge the reports of one salesmancan be withdrawn without disturbing or dislodging the others. When thereports of one salesman have thus been withdrawn the reports of the nextsalesman are left projecting'and capable of being withdrawn in the samemanner and so on through all those distributed on the table.

As fast as the reports are withdrawn they are laid face up in one pile,the consequence being an alphabetical occurrence of the reports in thepile. To put the matter in a more concrete way and as shown in Fig. 1,if the documents are eight inches widethe reports will aline at theirright hand edges at E) on the number ribbon P and 9 on the permanentscale will indicate the pressing point for holding down the documents atthe left. The two scales can be used for chronological arrangement ofthe several alphabetical groups in the same way except that whendistributed according to dates the documents are withdrawn from the lefthand side, the numbers of the permanent scale being used as the dateplacing positions and the numbers of the ribbon P used as the pressingor holding indications. If a series of numbersbe placed on the nameribbon as suggested in Fig. 1 said ribbon can be used in connection withthe permanent scale for chronological sorting. v

vVhere the documents used in a business are not of different dimensionsthe two numbered scales can be made or left in permanent relation toeach other.

The forms of the parts can be changed without departing from the gist ofthe invention as claimed.

l/Vhat I claim is:

1. Means for facilitating the sorting of documents originating fromvarious persons comprising in combination an elongated table forprimarily depositing the documents, a rail extending longitudinally ofthe table carrying the names of such perthe table carrying the names ofsuch persons, said names being regularly spaced from each other aregular series of similarly spaced numbers paralleling said names, and asecond movable series of similarly spaced numbers paralleling said first10 named series so that the numbers thereof can be placed innon-coinciding relation to the first series of numbers whereby documentsdeposited on said table alining with said names are grouped indistinguishable 15 piles readily separable in substantially the mannerdescribed.

JAMES H. FULLER.

